Growing Our
Infrastructure
Green infrastructure is the interconnected network of open
spaces, such as farmland, natural areas, parks, urban forests,
and other greenways that links the urban environment to the
natural world. Green infrastructure provides wildlife habitat,
recreational opportunities, and contributes to a resilient food
system.
Many human-built, gray infrastructure functions such as flood
control or water purification have a natural counterpart. The
ecosystem services provided by the natural world can replace,
complement, or enhance gray infrastructure functions. However
these natural processes need an intact green infrastructure to
continue to function well.
NATURAL LANDS
Natural lands are areas largely
undeveloped and in their natural state. These open spaces are
generally characterized by their biological resources and their
natural functions, such as providing habitat for wildlife or
acting as a natural water purifier. Natural lands can be
classified as unprotected or protected, with protected lands
having varying levels of protection. A protected land designation
means there is a general commitment to maintain the property for
any of a wide range of open space uses.
SCAG uses the California
Protected Areas Database (CPAD) developed by GreenInfo
Network to identify protected lands. CPAD is a comprehensive
database of California lands that are held in fee title ownership
for the continuation of open space values. It is part of
the Protected
Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), an inventory of
marine and terrestrial protected areas throughout the entire
nation. “Protected” status can confer anything from complete,
permanent protection of habitat in its natural state to some
protection of the land cover with allowances for extractive or
localized intense uses. The USGS
Gap Analysis Program (GAP) identifies protection level
for protected lands. GreenInfo Network is currently working to
update and refine GAP status for CPAD.
URBAN FORESTS AND COMMUNITY PARKS
Living in the built environment can make
access to open spaces difficult and make people forget that
cities are dependent on having some green infrastructure to
function properly. Green spaces in urban areas are an important
commodity. Parks, neighborhood trees, green medians, and other
vegetated areas all provide some ecosystem service. Tree canopies
provide shade, reduce the urban heat island effect, and absorb
air pollution. Vegetation provides permeable surfaces to allow
water to infiltrate the soil, reducing stormwater runoff and
recharging underground aquifers. The denser the urban forest, the
better the ecosystem service it provides.
Urban forests also provide health, social and economic benefits.
Childhood obesity in the US has been linked to a sedentary
lifestyle partly caused by the lack of easy access to parks and
other open spaces. Obesity can lead to many types of health
problems including cardiovascular disease, some forms of
arthritis, and diabetes. Asthma and other lung diseases have been
linked to air pollution that could be partly mitigated by the
presence of trees and other vegetation that act as air filters in
urban areas. Many studies have shown that social behavior
improves with better green spaces and attractive landscapes.
Communities feel safer, less stress, and experience less
violence. Commercial areas have higher economic returns because
shoppers stay longer and are willing to pay more for services and
goods in business districts with vegetated outdoor settings and
tree-lined sidewalks.
The City Project has done work on mapping green access in
Southern California. The report analyzes equity to green access
and contains recommendations for improving access to parks in
Southern California. SCAG’s 2012 RTP/SCS Environmental Justice report discusses park
access and equity issues from a regional
perspective. SCAG’s 2016 RTP/SCS, currently under
development will continue to address the importance of policies
that encourage access to parks and open space in disadvantaged
communities.
AGRICULTURAL LANDS
Farmlands and rangelands are
agricultural land uses that are part of the region’s open
landscape and entail various types and degrees of modifications
to natural lands. Farmlands include irrigated and non-irrigated
crop production. Rangelands include any expanse of natural land
that is not fertilized, irrigated, or cultivated and is
predominantly used for grazing by livestock and wildlife.
Estimates prepared in 2008 by the California Department of
Conservation show that the SCAG region consists of approximately
10% (2.65 million acres) agricultural lands and 6% (1.48 million
acres) rangeland, altogether. Ventura, Riverside, and Imperial
counties generally have more farmland while more rangeland can be
found in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties.
Historically, development patterns in the region have been tied
as much to the conversion of agricultural lands as to the
consumption of natural lands for urban uses. A key issue in the
region today is whether the high rate of farmland conversion in
recent years can be slowed to prevent irreversible losses. An
estimated 230,000 acres of farmland and grazing land were
converted to non-agricultural uses and/or applied for development
entitlements between 1996 and 2004. If this trend continues
unabated, the existing inventory of agricultural lands could be
reduced by 700,000 acres before 2030.
Agricultural lands are important to the local economy. According
to the California Department of
Food and Agriculture, California’s top 20 crop and livestock
commodities accounted for more than $43.5 billion in value in
2011. These lands also provide critical habitat for wildlife,
protect local scenery, act as a buffer between urbanized and
natural areas, and contribute to a resilient, local food system.
The Division
of Land Resource Protection works with landowners and
other stakeholders to encourage agricultural land conservation.
They implement the California Farmland Conservancy Program (CFCP)
that encourages permanent farmland conservation through easements
and the Williamson Act, a voluntary agreement to restrict
development of agricultural lands in exchange for tax reductions.
They are also responsible for the Farmland
Mapping and Monitoring Program (FMMP) that provides maps
and 2-year updates of California’s agricultural lands inventory.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Ecosystems are full of complex and
dynamic interactions between the biological community and the
physical environment. Ecosystem services are the benefits that
nature provides to people. These benefits range from concrete
ecosystem goods, such as water, building materials,
pharmaceuticals, and industrial products to life-support
functions such as air and water purification, waste breakdown and
detoxification, crop pollination, and flood and fire mitigation
to the intangible, such as aesthetic beauty and natural
diversity.
New studies are showing just how dependent we are on these
services provided by nature. This recent
article, Loss
of Wild Insects Hurts Crops Around the World (02/28/13),
shows how integral biodiversity and native pollinators are to our
agricultural industry. To help decision-makers better understand
the role ecosystems services play and how to incorporate it into
existing processes, the World Resources Institute developed a
report called, Ecosystem
Services: A Guide for Decision Makers.
- Maintains Biodiversity & Wildlife Habitats
- Provides key elements of agricultural, pharmaceutical,
and industrial activities for human benefit
- Nutrient Storage and Cycling
- Soil Structure, Formation, and Fertility
- Natural enhancement of the soil system
- Promotes organic matter buildup/carbon sequestration
- Pollination of Crops and Natural Vegetation
- Approximately 75% of all human food comes from plants
that need pollination. Over half of that requires pollination
by wild (native) pollinators – including bats, birds, bees,
butterflies, moths, flies, and beetles.
- Biological Pest Control
- Fiber, Building & Industrial Materials, and Fuel Production
- Water Cycling & Water Quality
- Maintains soil moisture and regulate water
movement/cycling
- Purifies organic/inorganic constituents in surface and
ground water.
- Regulates water pollution
- Detoxification and Decomposition of Wastes
- Atmospheric Gas & Climate Regulation, Air Purification
- Regulates atmospheric chemical composition
- Moderates temperature extremes.
- Carbon sequestration
- Fire Control and Suppression
- Mitigates the Impacts of Flood and Drought
- Provides Opportunities for Recreational Activities & Cultural
Diversity
BIODIVERSITY
California is home to a diversity of
plant and animal species, many of which are endemic to the area
and found nowhere else in the world. Because of the close
proximity of so many distinct habitats to each other from mild,
coastal climates to cold, mountainous peaks to dry, desert areas,
our region boasts an abundance of wildlife.
California’s coastal Mediterranean climate is of special concern
due to the unusually high concentration of endemic plants found
there. This area is considered a biodiversity hotspot because
much of the original habitat has already been lost; at the same
time, continuing urbanization and climate change threatens
existing habitats of these unique plants and animals. Overall,
California has approximately 300 endangered, threatened, or rare
plant and animal species.
The SCAG region contains an exceptionally diverse set of plant
and animal communities that are broadly categorized into the
following habitat types: desert shrub (scrub) and woodland,
beaches and dunes, conifer forests and woodlands, hardwood
forests and woodlands, valley and coastal plains grasslands,
shrub (scrub), wetlands, riparian habitats, and coastal marine
resources. There are many endemic, rare, or special status
species found in each of these habitats such as the Arroyo toad,
Santa Ana sucker, Stephens’ kangaroo rat, Western snowy plover,
Palos Verdes blue butterfly and Coastal dunes milk-vetch.
The California Department
of Fish and Wildlife maintains a list of special status
species.
